Archdiocesan news briefs

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Ecumenical award

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson will be among the honorees recognized at the Ecumenical Leadership Council's Special Recognition Awards dinner at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Other honorees include Donald Suggs, publisher of the St. Louis American newspaper, Lewis Chartock, president of MersGoodwill, Terry Nelson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Carpenter's District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity, and Rev. Wallace Hartsfield, pastor emeritus of the Metropolitan M.B. Church in Kansas City. Keynote speaker will be Judge Jimmie Edwards of the 22nd Circuit Court. The Review is a sponsor of the event. Tickets are available by calling (314) 721-2288.

Healing Mass correction

Father Richard McAlear, OMI, will celebrate a healing Mass at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, at Our Lady of Providence Parish, 8863 Pardee Road in Crestwood. The Review had an incorrect date for the Mass in last week's issue.

Naming and Commendation

The Rite for Naming and Commendation for Infants Who Died Before Birth will take place at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 27, at Holy Trinity Parish, 3500 St. Luke Lane at St. Gregory Lane in St. Ann. For more information call Jill Stojeva at (314) 477-2122. The rite and a Mass will also be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 2, at St. Joseph Parish, 6020 Old Antonia Road in Imperial. Call Michelle Longtin at (636) 461-2709. The rite is offered to parents whose child(ren) have died prior to birth because of miscarriage, accident or abortion. It acknowledges that all life, even the lives of those who are never born, impacts families and individuals. It also helps bring peaceful closure after a great loss.

Abortion survivor

Claire Culwell, an abortion survivor, will speak at Vitae Foundation's Perryville Pro-Life Benefit Dinner, Monday, June 4, at the Perryville Knights of Columbus Hall, 31 Church St. In 2009, Culwell met her biological mother who told Culwell that her life was a miracle. Culwell's birth mother had become pregnant at the age of 13. She was taken to an abortion clinic where a surgical abortion was performed. After realizing a few weeks later that she was still pregnant, her birth mother found another clinic and was informed that she had been pregnant with twins -- one was aborted, one survived -- and it was too late to do a second abortion. Culwell was born two weeks later weighing only 3 pounds 2 ounces and was placed on life support. Because of the abortion, her hips had been dislocated and her feet were turned inward, but she was adopted shortly after birth. The event is free, but reservations are required by calling Kristina Davis toll-free at (800) 393-5791 or visiting vitaefoundation.org/events.

Carmelite vocations day

The Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus will be hosting Carmelite Day for seventh- through eleventh-grade girls on Friday, June 1. The day's activities will include prayer, fun and an opportunity to learn more about religious life and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The retreat will be held at the sisters' convent, 10341 Manchester Road in Kirkwood. Registration forms and event flyers available at carmelitedcj.org/retreats.asp. For more information, call Sister Mary Michael at (314) 965-7616.

Loan her a hand

Central Catholic Academy volunteer Sarah Schulze hopes to join the order of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr of St. George in Alton, Ill., as a postulant in September. Sarah has one large concern -- $11,000 in college student loans that must be repaid. The Vincentian Service Corps volunteers are holding a trivia night at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at Christ the King Parish in University City with a theme of St. Louis to assist her in paying off the loans. For reservations or information email schulze.48@buckeyemail.osu.edu. Also see fundly.com/aiming4eternity.

Carmelite Day

A day of prayer and fun with the Carmelites focusing on religious life and the Sacred Heart of Jesus for seventh-through-11th-grade girls will be held Friday, June 1, at the Carmelites, 10341 Manchester Road in Kirkwood. For information call Sister Mary Michael at (314) 965-7615 or see carmelitedcj.org/retreats.asp.

Scholarship dinner

The St. Louis NativityMiguel Scholarship Fund Dinner, which provides tuition assistance for underprivileged students, will honor Archbishop Robert J. Carlson at the event from 6-9 p.m. Wednesday, June 6, at the Chase Park Plaza, 212 N. Kingshighway Blvd. in the Central West End. Funds help pay high school tuition for more than 300 graduates of NativityMiguel schools. The dinner will salute Archbishop Carlson, a proponent of improving education, and the more than 100 students graduating from NativityMiguel middle schools this year. Tickets are $250 per person and are available by contacting Tom Nolan at (314) 898-0430 or nolant@accessacademies.org.

New role

Dominican Father Charles Bouchard, prior provincial of the Dominican province of St. Albert the Great, has announced that he has asked Dominican Father Richard Peddicord, current president of Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, to assume the presidency of Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Ill. Fenwick is a ministry of the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great with approximately 1,200 students. Father Peddicord, who has been president of Aquinas since 2008 and professor of moral theology there since 1994, will step into his new responsibilities in July. Aquinas is a St. Louis-based Roman Catholic graduate school of theology and ministry sponsored by the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).

Teen talent

Maggie Dailey, a student at Trinity Catholic High School, a singer and guitarist, won the $1,000 "Keep Art Happening" scholarship award in the St. Louis Teen Talent Showcase Competition last month. The Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation produced and presented the adjudicated competition. The finalists -- also including Lauren Geisz, Ursuline Academy, a singer, and Anna Hebrank, Ursuline Academy, a singer -- already have participated in the National Dance Week Celebration at Union Station and other events. Scheduled are appearances at the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis in Forest Park, May 27 and June 15; Webster Groves Art & Air, June 2; The Muny Lichtenstein Plaza in St. Louis, June 20; and Dancing in the Street Festival in St. Louis, Sept. 29.

New beginning

Eight new small businesses are incubating in the BEGIN New Venture Center at St. Patrick Center, the Catholic Charities agency that fights homelessness. The BEGIN New Venture Center, opened in 2008, is the nation's first small business incubator with mission sensitivity to the homeless population -- in exchange for business resources, BEGIN companies agree to train and/or hire St. Patrick Center clients. The eight new companies, which feature a variety of products and services, make a total of 26 companies now growing in the BEGIN New Venture Center. The center is accepting applications for entrance into the small business incubator. For information go online to beginstl.org.

Art award

Rachel Marks of St. Joseph's Academy is the first recipient of the Julie Schaeffer Art Award for the Excellence in Visual Arts given to the senior student who has achieved outstanding accomplishments in the visual arts and for her dedication and commitment to excellence in the arts beyond the classroom. Schaeffer was a talented art student and 1994 graduate of the Academy. She was killed in a automobile accident in 1997 but her love for art will live on forever at the school.

Religious freedom

Bishop Robert Hermann and William Federer will present a seminar on "Religious Freedom ... Under Attack" from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 16, at St. Cletus Parish, 2721 Zumbehl Rd. in St. Charles. There is no charge to attend the event sponsored by the Body of Christ Outreach. Bishop Hermann's topic is "Christcare and Courage, Is Obamacare for Everyone?" Federer will cover "How the Catholic Church Invented Modern Health Care" and the history of attacks on religious freedom. For information call (636) 922-4761.

Vocation trends conference

Members of Region IX of the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC) met in St. Louis April 30-May 2 to discuss current trends in religious vocations. Nearly 20 religious communities were represented at the meeting. Brother Paul Bednarczyk, CSC, director of the conference, presented findings from a 2009 NRVC/CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) study on vocations and a 2011 USCCB/CARA study on New Sisters and Brothers in Perpetual Vows. The studies showed that men and women who recently entered religious life said what attracted them to the life was a desire for prayer and spiritual growth, a desire to be of service and to be a part of a community. When asked what attracted them particularly to a community, most said it was the spirituality of the institute, living in community, the example of the members of a community and the prayer life and mission of the institute. For information on the National Religious Vocation Conference, visit nrvc.net.